Welcome to the wiki of the [http://www.hackuarium.ch/ Hackuarium] association!<br>

+

Welcome to the wiki of the [http://www.hackuarium.ch/ Hackuarium] association! <br>

At Hackuarium, we want to bring biology (and biologists) to the world, and the real world back to biology. Our laboratory is an excuse to meet and discuss, build and develop ideas in a neutral, open, noncompetitive and not-for-profit environment.<br>

At Hackuarium, we want to bring biology (and biologists) to the world, and the real world back to biology. Our laboratory is an excuse to meet and discuss, build and develop ideas in a neutral, open, noncompetitive and not-for-profit environment.<br>

Revision as of 13:39, 23 February 2018

At Hackuarium, we want to bring biology (and biologists) to the world, and the real world back to biology. Our laboratory is an excuse to meet and discuss, build and develop ideas in a neutral, open, noncompetitive and not-for-profit environment.

This page was launched during our 1st Ever Hackuarium Wiki Sprint that took place on 7 December 2014. As you might notice quickly, it is a work-in-progress.

What is DIYbio?

DIYbio (Do-It-Yourself biology) is a movement that wants to free the practice of biological research and innovation from the institutional and industrial laboratories. Pursued both by amateurs and professional biologists, DIYbio is developing low-cost and low-tech solutions to problems identified by the community.

The movement is characterised by an extremely diverse set of practices and participants. Some call themselves 'biohackers', in reference to the hacker culture.

DIYbio.org and DIYbio.eu are the portals of the international and european communities, respectively.

We actually believe in doing DIT (Do-It-Together) Science, as it reflects better the scope of the trans-disciplinary projects we do (often not only biology).

What is Hackuarium?

Hackuarium is a not-for-profit association aiming at democratizing science through public engagement.

Our laboratory in Renens (Switzerland) is open to anyone sharing the values of the association and who is dedicated to follow the DIYbio Europe ethical guidelines.

Our projects are initiated and carried out by scientists as well as non-scientists from a variety of background. They are passionate about tinkering with biology in particular, and technology in general. Some are engineers, architects, designers, IT and computer scientists or retired professionals, but others have no scientific education. They are mostly citizens interested in open and participatory research and innovation, outside the constrains of traditional institutions.

Hackuarium members want to investigate new ways of carrying out interdisciplinary research and innovation, by making their results accessible (low-cost), simple and easily reproducible (low-tech) and by promoting an open source philosophy.

Where are we?

Hackuarium is proudly using infrastructures provided by UniverCité, an unconventional innovation hub that opened in May 2014 in the IRL building in Renens. Our equipment is mostly upcycled material from institutions and industries from western Switzerland. We have documented our working environment as it has evolved.

Between December 2015 and January 2017, UniverCité regrouped our laboratory, a workshop and coworking space.

The original space was under construction work from January until June 2017 and We temporarily relocated on the first floor of the same building.

We are back on the second floor of what is now called "Ateliers de Renens", Chemin du Closed 5, 1020 Renens.

Who are we?

Renens is a hopping hub - and our members reflect the diversity that is in and around Lausanne/Renens.

Practical Information

Rules at Hackuarium

We have very few rules at Hackuarium. The goal of the association is to provide freedom to its members, so they can explore beyond what is allowed elsewhere. However, we want members and anyone participating in our activities to feel comfortable and respected.

All the protocols that we use at Hackuarium will be found here (work in progress).
They are detailed and structured so that the main focus is on applications. The idea is to give crucial information on how to apply the most common techniques of the Biology toolbox. The protocols are structured as follow:

A scheme describing each

A brief description of the protocol and its use

A description of the different ways of carrying out the protocol. Ideally there should be a description of a commercial kit and a DIY kit.

A description of the safety issues and best practice

Information specific to Hackuarium and where to find the components, tools and reagents.

Instruments available

This page describes all the instruments available at Hackuarium (work in progress..), their location and how to use them.

Up-to-date list of instruments we still need

This on-line document contains all the instruments, tools and consumables we are looking for. We have a standard donation contract ( contrat de donation, in French) and if your organisation happen to discard a piece of equipment we are (or may be) looking for, contact us!